Bill > HR5894

This bill, known as the RESTRAIN Act (Renewing Efforts to Suspend Testing and Reinforce Arms-control Initiatives Now Act), aims to prohibit the United States from conducting explosive testing of nuclear weapons. Specifically, the bill amends the Atomic Energy Defense Act to ban any explosive nuclear weapon testing or nuclear explosions, and it restricts the use of funds for fiscal year 2026 and beyond from being used for such purposes. The bill does, however, include an important exception for subcritical nuclear tests, which are defined as nuclear tests involving fissile materials that cannot sustain an explosive nuclear chain reaction. This means that while full-scale nuclear weapon explosions would be prohibited, smaller scientific tests that do not create a sustained nuclear reaction would still be permitted. The bill represents an effort to limit nuclear weapons testing and potentially support global nuclear arms control initiatives by preventing the United States from conducting explosive nuclear tests.

Military Affairs and Security

https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/5894/all-info